Things I found Thrifting
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When I'm thrifting I usually just randomly ask people if they have tobacco pipes. 99 out of 100 people say no and then tell me their pipe memories. Today, I met the wife of a pipe smoker and also got this gem from a kind gentleman's basement on a random ask. It has a little water damage, but is cool as all get out
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I believe this is a Decatur piece made from walnut. I picked it up for $18 at an antique shop, sanded it clean and finished it with five coats of Tung Oil. Very happy with it!
Found this little guy hanging out on a shelf, looks like it might rain today. Better have a pipe in the garage... 
Spotted this in an ad for a garage sale. Because they were about 50 miles from me I sent them a message asking how much for the pipe cabinet and if they had any pipes for sale. They answered they had no pipes and wanted $100 for the cabinet. At that price I think I'll let them keep it. 
my wife and I had a good weekend visiting one of our local antique shops. We don’t often find things that we feel are scores but this time we did.
First up was the lighter that was still in its original box. I paid $10 for it. It works like a charm.
Second was this leather jacket. It came with matching chaps. We paid $20. The first pic is before I cleaned it up and treated it.
Third was the this 1962 Gillette slim that I picked up for $20. This pic is after cleaning it up a bit.
First up was the lighter that was still in its original box. I paid $10 for it. It works like a charm.
Second was this leather jacket. It came with matching chaps. We paid $20. The first pic is before I cleaned it up and treated it.
Third was the this 1962 Gillette slim that I picked up for $20. This pic is after cleaning it up a bit.
I picked these up a couple weeks ago while antiquing with the Warden. The top is a Kaywoodie Lady Briar and the bottom pipe is a Yello-Bole Thorn. Both are unsmoked and were $9 each! I may put the Lady Briar in a shadow box.
I have a story of something I experienced awhile back.
My wife and I were at a local junk store. It's absolutely huge, but always picked over by the owner and his friends. I'm not going to blow him up but he has an ebay shop where he sells ALL the good stuff. The things on his shelves are garage sale type items....usually junk. He does have some tools and such at good prices. When I need a "once in a blue moon" tool, I go there....like a ball joint pickle fork.
Anyways, we were there looking around and I found a Wellington pipe. One of the "imposter" Peterson System pipes. They are good pipes, and probably as good as modern Petersons, but they ain't Petersons.
It was WELL used but still had some years of use left.
It was in his glass case where he sits, where the good stuff is.
There was no price, so I asked.
He said this was a VERY rare pipe made from REAL briar, which is rare....and he had $275 on the pipe but was up to haggle. I did not insult him with a $25 offer, I just said I would pass.
I know those Wellingtons go for $25-$50 all day long in good shape. This pipe was this side of acceptable.
Very dull finish, brown oxidized Vulcanite stem, a charred rim, deep tooth marks top and bottom, and scratches, dings and fills galore.
With some work it would be a good smoker, but I thought he would say $10 and it's yours.....which I would have done.
He usually has some old beater pipe's for $10-$20, but this Wellington apparently was a masterpiece.
My wife and I were at a local junk store. It's absolutely huge, but always picked over by the owner and his friends. I'm not going to blow him up but he has an ebay shop where he sells ALL the good stuff. The things on his shelves are garage sale type items....usually junk. He does have some tools and such at good prices. When I need a "once in a blue moon" tool, I go there....like a ball joint pickle fork.
Anyways, we were there looking around and I found a Wellington pipe. One of the "imposter" Peterson System pipes. They are good pipes, and probably as good as modern Petersons, but they ain't Petersons.
It was WELL used but still had some years of use left.
It was in his glass case where he sits, where the good stuff is.
There was no price, so I asked.
He said this was a VERY rare pipe made from REAL briar, which is rare....and he had $275 on the pipe but was up to haggle. I did not insult him with a $25 offer, I just said I would pass.
I know those Wellingtons go for $25-$50 all day long in good shape. This pipe was this side of acceptable.
Very dull finish, brown oxidized Vulcanite stem, a charred rim, deep tooth marks top and bottom, and scratches, dings and fills galore.
With some work it would be a good smoker, but I thought he would say $10 and it's yours.....which I would have done.
He usually has some old beater pipe's for $10-$20, but this Wellington apparently was a masterpiece.
Several years ago, my ex cousin-in-law owned a thrift shop. I told her I knew about pipes and she said she had a guy with a bunch of old pipes to sell. I said I could come and value them as I was doing a good business selling pipes at the time. Every one of them was broken in some way from broken tenons to cracks that ran the length of the bowl. I gave my valuation which was not high and proceeded to get chewed up one side and down the other from both parties for being so incompetent. Sometimes there isn't really a good way out. I did offer him $30 for a black asbestos calabash that had a cracked bowl and a broken button but that was just too insulting.
How should well worn pipes like these be priced? By potential, regardless of how beat up they are? That’s what I seem to be finding in these places where pipes are an afterthought and not a prominent seller. It just baffles me.
In the main markets (Etsy, eBay, etc.) they were worth little to nothing. I have even given away grab bags of broken pipes for amateur restorers to practice on. Sometimes a broken toy is just that. The reason I offered $30 for a broken pipe over 10 years ago was that it had some minor historical significance. He wanted $250.
Same shop owner sold 3 pipes for me and screwed me on all 3. The nicest was a Comoy's that I had a minimum price of $60 on and she sold it on eBay for $15 and never gave me the money.
Yeah, I mentioned on this thread earlier that I looked at a French Oom Paul of unknown manufacture and the guy pulled the stem off, looked at it and said "$60" which was nuts! I passed and he sold it for $20 to my daughter who happened to walk in the next day, because he "wanted me to have it." He has some other well-worn pipes I'm interested in, but I'm not paying what a refurbished pipe that's ready to smoke would go for. Is that a reasonable line of thinking?
It’s like buying a fixer upper house and paying what it will be worth after it’s renovated.
it's been a slow couple of weeks but found this Brigham Prince and an empty murrays erinmore tin
